The foreigners that work at the public schools here in Korea often like to pick on them as having a lot of problems (compared to back home). But it seems like they're doing some things right:
I was shocked to see the USA high school graduation rate was only 69% and that rose from previous years (2006).
Canada fares much better at around 90% in 2005.
And Korea fares the best in the OECD at 97% (article written 2008).
Nice work Korea! Maybe it's time for the most vocal of the foreign-complainers to stop criticizing Korea and acknowledge that they're doing a lot of things right.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
An example
I will ALWAYS do an example for every activity that I do in class. The times that I haven't, things have often gone quite wrong, with lots of confused students not doing what I want them to do.
Today, we were talking about memories and I had 2 conversation questions up on the board. "What's a favorite memory from high school? .....from middle/elementary school?" Then, they have to follow-up with some "W" questions. I prompt my students to ask me question #1. I tell a bit of a story from high school, but very vague with almost no detail so they want to know more. They throw a few more questions at me. Then question #2: same thing. Then, once they see it in action and understand, it's easy enough for them to do it themselves and they can talk to their partner for 4 or 5 minutes. If no example, the activity would have probably been done in about 1 minute.
Today, we were talking about memories and I had 2 conversation questions up on the board. "What's a favorite memory from high school? .....from middle/elementary school?" Then, they have to follow-up with some "W" questions. I prompt my students to ask me question #1. I tell a bit of a story from high school, but very vague with almost no detail so they want to know more. They throw a few more questions at me. Then question #2: same thing. Then, once they see it in action and understand, it's easy enough for them to do it themselves and they can talk to their partner for 4 or 5 minutes. If no example, the activity would have probably been done in about 1 minute.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Typhoon! Review Game
A fantastically fun review game that any age group of students will love that requires a little prep but no materials. Especially if (as in my class) the winning team gets a stamp, which translates into 1% of their final grade.
Draw a grid on the board, marking one row with numbers, one with letters. I usually do 5x5 or 6x6 for a 20-30 minute game.
Put in the following letters:
T=typhoon. Lose all your points
H=hurricane. Pick 1 team, for minus 5
V=vacation. Get 5 points for free
For these ones, I'll do each one 2 or 3 times
E=easy question, 1 point
M=medium, 3 points
D=difficult, 5 points.
Fill in the rest of your grid.
Then depending on how big your class is, make 4 or 5 teams. They pick a square, (B-6), then you write the letter in the box and ask them a question of whatever. Have a list of easy/medium/hard questions beforehand (I literally use the questions from the mid-term exam as a way to reward students who care/pay attention). If they get the question correct, give them the points, if not, erase the letter in the box and another team can pick that square if they want.
Play until all the squares are done. That's it! Make sense?
Draw a grid on the board, marking one row with numbers, one with letters. I usually do 5x5 or 6x6 for a 20-30 minute game.
Put in the following letters:
T=typhoon. Lose all your points
H=hurricane. Pick 1 team, for minus 5
V=vacation. Get 5 points for free
For these ones, I'll do each one 2 or 3 times
E=easy question, 1 point
M=medium, 3 points
D=difficult, 5 points.
Fill in the rest of your grid.
Then depending on how big your class is, make 4 or 5 teams. They pick a square, (B-6), then you write the letter in the box and ask them a question of whatever. Have a list of easy/medium/hard questions beforehand (I literally use the questions from the mid-term exam as a way to reward students who care/pay attention). If they get the question correct, give them the points, if not, erase the letter in the box and another team can pick that square if they want.
Play until all the squares are done. That's it! Make sense?
Thursday, October 8, 2009
It looks good...
...in that I will probably be able to have a job in Korea, if I want one at least for the foreseeable future. An article from the Korea Times about how English ability seems to the major factor in whether people land the top jobs at the major companies or not. In the past, this was based solely on Toeic scores, but recently some companies have been introducing speaking tests as well, which is where I come in!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
The main issue...
Korea, despite spending more money than any other country in the world on private English education, and studying it in public schools for 8 or 10 years, has an extremely low proficiency in actually speaking English. By the time students get to my class, at a middle-of-the-pack university, some of them don't know their numbers to 100, a few can't read, some can't tell me their name when I ask, they don't know colors very well and get confused with very basic grammar concepts such as is/are and past/present verbs.
How does this happen? My theory is that Koreans love to do the hard stuff without ever mastering the basics. For example, despite not knowing the basic things that I've listed above, I'll see people studying these crazy advanced grammar concepts, for a TOEIC test, with questions that I'd even have a hard time answering. Or, because they've studied English for so many years, most students will call themselves "advanced" and register for hard classes when in reality they are basically false beginners and going back to level one would sometimes be appropriate. When setting up programs, I keep hearing that the students are "high-level" so I do things appropriate for that kind of setting and then discover that what they really need is a basic textbook to get a grasp of the easy stuff before moving on to the stuff I had planned. Frustrating!
How does this happen? My theory is that Koreans love to do the hard stuff without ever mastering the basics. For example, despite not knowing the basic things that I've listed above, I'll see people studying these crazy advanced grammar concepts, for a TOEIC test, with questions that I'd even have a hard time answering. Or, because they've studied English for so many years, most students will call themselves "advanced" and register for hard classes when in reality they are basically false beginners and going back to level one would sometimes be appropriate. When setting up programs, I keep hearing that the students are "high-level" so I do things appropriate for that kind of setting and then discover that what they really need is a basic textbook to get a grasp of the easy stuff before moving on to the stuff I had planned. Frustrating!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Cultural differences
At my uni, there are a variety of programs that the foreigners teach in for extra money. Some of them are volunteer, while others are an ask a certain few people kind of thing. Some of my coworkers spend a lot of time and effort worrying and wondering about why there weren't picked for a certain thing. To me, it's just futile because what matters to a Westerner doesn't necessarily matter to a Korean.
Example: appearance. Westerners have kind of a minimum standard of appropriate dress that they would wear in a professional environment and as long as you meet that minimum standard, you're in the clear. However, appearance is much more meaningful in Korea and the best dressed=the best teacher in some cases. And of course, every Korean has an opinion about what skin or eye or hair color the "best" teacher has. And how old they are. You never know what is running through the minds of the powers that be in regard to this.
Example 2. Qualifications. A Westerner would think that the person with the best qualification to teach a certain class should get a job, regardless of almost all other things. However, Koreans seem to consider a wider array of factors such as if they know you and have a personal relationship already, if you smell bad, reputation among students, if you speak slowly and they can understand you, etc. A multitude of things that makes me head dizzy and leads me to not even try to figure it all out. In general, it won't really matter to the people you work for what kind of and what level of degree that you have.
Example 3. Positive attitude. Korea is a top-down kind of society whereas in the Western world we like to be all warm and fuzzy and pretend that organizations can be run by consensus. So any appearance of being a complainer, demanding extra things, or just being plain difficult to work with will lead to being taken off the list of people they ask to do the extra things. The person in charge is the person in charge in Korea and they don't like to be approached by you, thinking you are their equal whereas in the Western world, having a little heart to heart with your boss about an issue at work might be kind of acceptable and/or encouraged.
So realize these things and try to stay in the clear by dressing well, realizing there is more to you as a teacher than your degree and ALWAYS having a positive attitude when around the higher ups (and coworkers too...since it will usually get around who likes their job and who doesn't).
Example: appearance. Westerners have kind of a minimum standard of appropriate dress that they would wear in a professional environment and as long as you meet that minimum standard, you're in the clear. However, appearance is much more meaningful in Korea and the best dressed=the best teacher in some cases. And of course, every Korean has an opinion about what skin or eye or hair color the "best" teacher has. And how old they are. You never know what is running through the minds of the powers that be in regard to this.
Example 2. Qualifications. A Westerner would think that the person with the best qualification to teach a certain class should get a job, regardless of almost all other things. However, Koreans seem to consider a wider array of factors such as if they know you and have a personal relationship already, if you smell bad, reputation among students, if you speak slowly and they can understand you, etc. A multitude of things that makes me head dizzy and leads me to not even try to figure it all out. In general, it won't really matter to the people you work for what kind of and what level of degree that you have.
Example 3. Positive attitude. Korea is a top-down kind of society whereas in the Western world we like to be all warm and fuzzy and pretend that organizations can be run by consensus. So any appearance of being a complainer, demanding extra things, or just being plain difficult to work with will lead to being taken off the list of people they ask to do the extra things. The person in charge is the person in charge in Korea and they don't like to be approached by you, thinking you are their equal whereas in the Western world, having a little heart to heart with your boss about an issue at work might be kind of acceptable and/or encouraged.
So realize these things and try to stay in the clear by dressing well, realizing there is more to you as a teacher than your degree and ALWAYS having a positive attitude when around the higher ups (and coworkers too...since it will usually get around who likes their job and who doesn't).
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
You don't like talking?
I have some classes in this optional English program where the students are very resistant to talking. The major problem of this program is that they basically get their credit for attendance and nothing else. There is a meaningless, token test at the end of the year. Anyway, the students all know this so a lot of them seem to just show up because it's an easy credit for essentially no work beyond showing up for class. To be fair, some students actually care about and want to learn English and they are a joy to teach.
My strategy for the ones who almost refuse to talk? Make it embarrassing for them not to. When we do pair conversation work, I'll set up the activity in a way that's very simple to understand. I'll write the question on the board and go over the 5 "W" questions for follow-up. My example from yesterday was, "What kind of movies do you like?" We'd been talking about movies the entire previous week so they should have had some familiarity with the topic. I'll do a teacher example, with the students asking me the main question and then some follow-up questions. Then I'll unleash them on each other, with a set time of say 2 or 3 minutes. Some students just won't talk. They look down at their books, out the window, sleep, anything but talk. So at the end I'll go around in a circle and ask for a quick summary from each students of what their partner said. The ones that didn't talk obviously have nothing to say. And feel very stupid because everyone else is able to do it. It only happens in one class and then they know I mean business. Try it out!
My strategy for the ones who almost refuse to talk? Make it embarrassing for them not to. When we do pair conversation work, I'll set up the activity in a way that's very simple to understand. I'll write the question on the board and go over the 5 "W" questions for follow-up. My example from yesterday was, "What kind of movies do you like?" We'd been talking about movies the entire previous week so they should have had some familiarity with the topic. I'll do a teacher example, with the students asking me the main question and then some follow-up questions. Then I'll unleash them on each other, with a set time of say 2 or 3 minutes. Some students just won't talk. They look down at their books, out the window, sleep, anything but talk. So at the end I'll go around in a circle and ask for a quick summary from each students of what their partner said. The ones that didn't talk obviously have nothing to say. And feel very stupid because everyone else is able to do it. It only happens in one class and then they know I mean business. Try it out!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Slow down!
I have a couple office hours a week and tell the students to come chat, or I'll help them study, or they can bring me a snack or whatever. No students come. And if they do, it's just a little question about attendance and then they run off as soon as it's taken care of. But one girl came, and sat and chatted until I had to get ready for my next class. She told me that my class is like elementary school but that she liked it. Mostly it's because I speak outrageously slow, give crazy simple instructions, use a lot of hand gestures and play games all the time.
Anyway, in a foreign language setting, be careful how fast you talk. There is no need to drop articles and such, like some wayguk-salams do, because that just sounds idiotic and stupid. Just talk in a normal, simple kind of way but at about 1/4-1/2 of the normal pace you would talk, depending on the level. I've had many appreciative students tell me how much they like my class, simply because they undersand me as opposed to their other foreign teachers.
Anyway, in a foreign language setting, be careful how fast you talk. There is no need to drop articles and such, like some wayguk-salams do, because that just sounds idiotic and stupid. Just talk in a normal, simple kind of way but at about 1/4-1/2 of the normal pace you would talk, depending on the level. I've had many appreciative students tell me how much they like my class, simply because they undersand me as opposed to their other foreign teachers.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
When 2 worlds collide
One of my coworkers and I have started up this new class at my university, that is technology based and a new kind of thing (at least at my uni!). We are doing blogging and video logging. So far, it's been a fun time, with students writing, reading and commenting on blogs. They are entertained for an hour, quite easily. And I hope some learning will happen too :) I feel pretty happy too, being able to get paid to do something cool like this, that I actually really enjoy. Here is the initial project:
English Class Blog.
English Class Blog.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Lost in Translation
So a lot of things in Korea are lost in translation. It's mostly my fault in most situations for not speaking enough Korean to grasp the intricacies of what being said. But there are some programs that I teach in, at my uni where a lot of stuff is mis-communicated, and it's not really my fault. In theory, those in charge of recruiting and directing foreigners to teach English in their programs would themselves have pretty passable English. Anyway, my tips to help in these situations:
1. Never give a verbal yes to anything over the phone. My Korean is horrible on the phone and so is most Korean's English. I always ask them to send me an email or ask if we can meet in person sometime to discuss it.
2. Don't worry about all the details. At my uni, it seems that the directors don't really care about what you're actually teaching, they just want a program of some sort and they want a foreigner to teach it. So the key is to ascertain if this is the situation or not. If it is, just agree on date/times/money and worry about the rest later.
3. Everyone says their students are "high level," whatever that means. Just prepare for the first class with some general introductory activities and then see what the actual level is and go from there.
4. And check to make sure you actually get paid. This often happens at my uni, with someone just simply forgetting about you, or they don't know your bank account #, etc.
1. Never give a verbal yes to anything over the phone. My Korean is horrible on the phone and so is most Korean's English. I always ask them to send me an email or ask if we can meet in person sometime to discuss it.
2. Don't worry about all the details. At my uni, it seems that the directors don't really care about what you're actually teaching, they just want a program of some sort and they want a foreigner to teach it. So the key is to ascertain if this is the situation or not. If it is, just agree on date/times/money and worry about the rest later.
3. Everyone says their students are "high level," whatever that means. Just prepare for the first class with some general introductory activities and then see what the actual level is and go from there.
4. And check to make sure you actually get paid. This often happens at my uni, with someone just simply forgetting about you, or they don't know your bank account #, etc.
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